Well between working on Seraphim and Steel & Shadows, I finished my aborted 24 hour game (with sleep it took like 40 hours to finish). It is called Empire of the Dragon-Lotus. I am not sure how to classify it because all though it examines character in what I feel is a simulationist method, it also has narrative bits. Or Attempted narrative bits I should say.

The focus is that the characters are among the hundreds of larger then life Proto-Heroes living in a mythical Chinese/Oriental Analoge. There is magic and sword fighting etc but instead of detailing damage for every weapon and what componenets are needed for casting this or that spell, I have simplified the rules down to be more abstract. They are possibly destined to be the great Warriors or Leaders of myth, perhaps even Emperor after a time. Their goal is to define their legacy.

Setting is clearly not finished and the game is not yet ready for full playtesting but the the basic word docs are available for download. plus a character sheet. My PDFs are not converting so you get the word versions until I get to Kinkos or fix my post script issue.

I've tried a couple of times to get the file, but no luck yet -- as often as I'll get a server error, I'll get an empty file that Word can't read. Is this something on my end or is anyone else having problems?

I like the use of Honor, Influence, and Enlightenment. They add a lot of flavor. I am curious, though, and perhaps my reading of the document isn't clear. What do the scores of the Attributes do during play? Is there a scale to measure them against? Or do they add dice to rolls? Or are they themselves somethimes rolled? What do they do, besides provide something to burn during conflicts?

I'm curious as to why you chose Talents on top of Attributes, when it seems that you could just use the Attributes in place of Talents.

Ok Attributes. AttributesThe purpose of Attributes is to measure the er.... intangibles of the character. I am sure it needs better explaining in the game itself. Talents are the skills, how good is he/she with a sword or playing Go or being God of Cookery. Attributes are more the measure of a Man/Woman. Is he Enlightened? Honorable? Influential? Does he/she hoard these intangibles or spend them to more easily gain their Legacy? The Attributes can also be used to cover the deficiencies a character finds in their own Talents (skills).

I do think I need a table that says X Honor means your really honorable etc etc, maybe use some descriptors in there.

My question with the attributes is: what do they accomplish in the game? Why should players pay attention to them? Are they "alignments," or is there some benefit to increasing the attribute?

Example: A high Influence allows for character amenities, and allows them to jockey for choice positions in the Bureaucracy. A high Honor grants an edge in combats involving Cunning. A high Enlightenment allows the player to sense when things are "wrong," and gives a rough idea on how to fix them.

Things like that might be what is needed, or why should a player pay attention to those Attributes? Most of the "why I see in this game is negative (if they don't they end up becoming Godless, Wandering Ronin), but as long as their score is above zero, why care?

Incidentally, for some reason I keep connecting the three attributes to the three talents: Honor to Physical, Influence to Cunning, Magic to Enlightenment. Is this correct?

Ok I see what your saying. Allowing the Attribute to be used as more then just a measure of the man and an emegency use for a weak Talent. I think that would be fairly easy to initiate as part of the mechanics. Extra dice for certain situations or a Perception type o fability.